49ers strike gold in wild weekend

49ers strike gold in wild weekend

Monday 6 January 2003 09.56 EST
First published on Monday 6 January 2003 09.56 EST

This is why they call it wild-card weekend - it can't get much wilder than this. One of the great comebacks in NFL history, followed by an even greater one. A 41-point rout. And, perhaps most difficult to believe, the Packers losing a playoff game at home.

If the rest of the NFL's postseason is anything like the last two days, well, get it on.

Of course, with all the weird stuff that happened during the regular season, did anyone expect a normal postseason?

"As long as you live, you might never see a game better than that," said 49ers coach Steve Mariucci after his team staged the second-biggest comeback in playoff history, rallying from 24 points down in the second half to beat the New York Giants 39-38 Sunday.

Hours earlier, in Pittsburgh, the Steelers came from 17 points down and scored four touchdowns in the final 19 minutes for a stunning 36-33 victory over archrival Cleveland in the greatest play-off comeback in team history.

"It's one of those wins you can't see happening, but you just keep hoping it will keep going the way it's going," coach Bill Cowher said.

Those two incredible comebacks followed two lopsided games on Saturday. The New York Jets, playing perfectly on offense, defense and special teams, romped past the Indianapolis Colts 41-0 in their first playoff meeting since the Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in the 1969 Super Bowl.

"This is more than what we could ask for," said linebacker Marvin Jones, whose team was 1-4 and 2-5 before starting its turnaround. "I didn't imagine we could win it like this."

And hardly anyone imagined what would happen that night, in the cold and the snow of Lambeau Field. Michael Vick looked like a seasoned pro and Brett Favre was ordinary. Vick guided the Atlanta Falcons to a 27-7 victory that was Green Bay's first home defeat in the play-offs. Ever. "I think we all believed in our hearts that we were going to go in and accomplish what we did," linebacker Keith Brooking said. "A lot of teams go into Lambeau beat before they even step on the field. I think 90 percent of it is going in with belief and without any doubt. We had that."

What was beyond belief were Sunday's comebacks.

Only the Buffalo Bills surpassed the rally San Francisco staged. The Bills were down 35-3 in the third quarter against Houston and won 41-38 in overtime in 1993.

The Niners didn't even need the extra period to dig out of a 38-14 hole and win. While the Giants suddenly stopped moving the ball and lost their composure on defense, Jeff Garcia and Terrell Owens brought to mind Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice.

San Francisco scored 25 straight points, with Garcia throwing for two scores and running for one.

He hit Owens with a TD pass and a pair of 2-point conversions during the surge.

Garcia's 13-yard touchdown pass to Tai Streets with a minute left won it, but not before a bad snap with six seconds to go messed up a 41-yard field-goal attempt for the Giants.

The game also got ugly toward the end, with Owens, 49ers center Jeremy Newberry and Giants safety Shaun Williams pushing and shoving, leading to Williams' ejection.

"This is about the worst loss I have ever felt in my entire life," said Giants coach Jim Fassel, whose team won its final four games, including the last one of the season on an overtime field goal by Matt Bryant. "I am not going to get over this one for a while."

Nor will the Browns get over their loss, which was engineered by Pittsburgh quarterback Tommy Maddox - appropriately, the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Cleveland self-destructed in the fourth period, particularly on the Steelers' 77-yard drive to a touchdown that made it 33-28. The Browns had three key penalties on the drive.

"Don't anybody write the Steelers won it," Cleveland's Corey Fuller said. "We gave it to them."

And Pittsburgh took it, thanks mostly to Maddox, although it was Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala's go-ahead three-yard scoring run with 54 seconds left that was the difference.

"Tommy brought the whole team together at half-time and told us what we were going to do," receiver Terance Mathis said. "He said if you don't think we're going to win this game, you need to go back into the locker room."

Pittsburgh will play at Tennessee on Saturday, and the Jets will be at Oakland on Sunday. In the NFC, Atlanta is at Philadelphia on Saturday night, and San Francisco will travel to Tampa Bay for a Sunday game.